Darfur Speech...check it out

This is a speech that I wrote about a month ago...read it, and then go to these websites: www.savedarfur.org and www.humanrightswatch.org




During World War II, Hitler committed atrocities against mankind, murdering six million Jews and countless others because of his thirst for power and penchant for hate. For years, the combined Allied forces of the United States, Great Britain, and the U.S.S.R. fought to stop Hitler and his designs for world domination. In 1945, he finally conceded defeat, and the Allied forces enjoyed the victory in Europe. Newspapers covered parades and other celebrations and interviews, showcasing the war heroes and victory with vigor and delight. The Allies had won, what reason was there to fret?

Although the Allies had won, many did not realize that one of our so called “Allies” had committed the same sort of crimes against mankind. Josef Stalin and his Politburo have simultaneously murdered or were the cause of about 20-30 million deaths. Depending on what source you tap into, the number may reach 100 million. During his government purges, he would take whoever he had the slightest distrust in, and execute the officer and their families. One day, due to his intense paranoia, he ordered the execution of 40.000 government officials. Despite these crimes, they weren’t brought to light during the war. These horrible acts against mankind were something that was fed to us during the Cold War in order to increase our fear and loathing of communism. They are the stuff of high school history classes. The media never touched on Stalin’s own terrible regime in the Soviet Union, which was bloodier than Hitler’s own personal vendetta against the Jews. I find this to be a very interesting notion. Why wouldn’t the media cover such a seemingly important fact? Why would they choose to ignore it until it became convenient to show Stalin in a negative light? Why leave out such an important bit of information?

While one would normally want to think that they are getting the most out of their media, and that the media is actually covering what is going on in the world, sometimes that is not the case. Just a few weeks ago Dr. Snee mentioned that a man had died because he did not have the money to afford treatment of a disease which had already been cured. I find this to be very important, as do most of you. However, you did not find that in the news. Instead, you probably found out that there was another car bombing in the Middle East, and that allegations against the supposed killer of JonBenet Ramsey were proving to be false. Now, the last two bits of information may be important to some, but certainly not as detrimental as a man being denied access to a drug for a disease that has already been cured. However, it seems to be that the media picks and chooses what is important for us. Sadly enough, that could lead to serious oversights on our part.

I suppose the question of the evening is who has heard of Darfur, Sudan, and who has not. Many people that I have talked to, including most of my friends, have never heard of Darfur, Sudan. For those that are unaware with the area, I shall fill you in quickly. Starting about three years ago, a bloody conflict has interrupted life in the Darfur region of Sudan. The government backed group, also known as the janjaweed militia, have been fighting two rebel groups known as the Sudanese Liberation Army (The SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). These movements were started in order to propel the government to help underdeveloped parts in the area, and to address “political marginalization in the area.” However, the government forces, along with the janjaweed militia, have started to attack civilians that support these rebel groups. Due to these attacks, over 400,000 people have been murdered in cold blood. About 2.5 million are in either Sudan or Chad, and 3.5 million people are completely reliant on international aid. The Sudanese government and the janjaweed militia are completely responsible for the displacement of these people, the rape of women and girls, the starvation, and most of all, the slaughtering of these poor people as if they were mere animals put out to pasture. Many have said that this is the worst case of genocide since Rwanda in 1994.

Despite the sobering importance of this, it is rarely in the news. There may be something played in the sidebars, but for the most part, local newspapers do not cover it. You would have to search on it online in order to find anything of substance on the matter. It seems to me that the media seems to be picking and choosing again. Is it really up to them to decide what we should hear? Is it fair that the media AND government decide what to tell us while keeping us in the dark about everything else?

There could be many different reasons for the absence of the Darfur conflict in the media. For starters, I think it partially has to do with what seems to be important at the time. Because of the bloodshed we see on tv shows, movies, video games, and the news in general, we have more or less become desensitized to anything that features a lot of blood and death. Due to the fact that analysts believe that we would not be interested in such a conflict, it could be completely discarded altogether. Bloodshed sells if it’s on American soil or comes equipped with a remote control or an Xbox. If it’s overseas, it has less of a chance of engaging our sympathies or sating our appetite for gore.

Another reason that I believe Darfur is not a big proponent of the news is because the U.S. is already embroiled in so many other conflicts, we do not need another conflict, no matter how right or ethical, underneath our belt. Due to the fact that so many of our resources are being stretched so thin, it would be hard to increase funding and send troops over to Sudan in order to help the people of Darfur in need. By keeping the situation out of the news, there is less of a chance of people to band together and lobby the government to increase aid or send troops over. While lobbyists may prove to be minor nuisances at times, some may attract a lot of unwanted attention and make the government look worse than it already does. We certainly could not have that now!

There is another reason, and one that is much more worrisome than the others. The lack of media coverage may simply be because we don’t care. The media doesn’t care. How could helping a bunch of homeless Africans in Sudan do us any good? We can’t do any good, so why try? They are an inconsequential people, so what is the point of even helping them? They would just die of disease or famine at some other point. Some may believe that the janjaweed militia and the Sudanese government are doing them a favor by killing them. Maybe even doing us a favor. Maybe it is the fact that racism is still incredibly prevalent, no matter how much we would like to believe otherwise. Our apathy is palpable, and the media picks up on this.
For whatever reason, the absence of media coverage in Darfur or about Darfur is still going to continue. Apparently the mass media does not believe it important enough to include it in its daily news reels or feeds. Apparently the cold slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people isn’t profitable enough, or interesting enough, or enough to draw upon our sympathies in order to include it.

Sadly, this is the case. However, there is still something you can do about it. Go to SaveDarfur.org, or HumanRightsWatch.org. Read for yourselves about what is going on in Darfur. Read about what is going on in the world. It is amazing what you’ll miss if you do not take the time to research things for yourself. Because if it is not important enough, the media will bypass it, thus making it hard for us to ever come across that topic without some prior knowledge that it existed. Is this ethical? Never. However, it happens, and one must always keep their eyes and ears open. You will miss too much if you don’t.